Let us pray (in silence) [that the message of God coming to save us may transform our lives]
Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, [or Pour forth, we beseech you, O God,]
your grace into our hearts,
that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ your Son
was made known by the message of an angel,
may, by his passion and cross,
be brought to the glory of his resurrection,
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
This is part of my collects with history and commentary.
This collect has been with us at least since the 8th century Hadrianum. It is in the Sarum Missal, the Book of Common Prayer, the 1962 Missal, and the Roman Rite after Vatican II. It is one of the well-known collects that has been sadly abandoned by the NZ Anglican Prayer Book.
Gratiam tuam, quaesumus Domine,
mentibus nostris infunde,
ut qui, Angelo nuntiante,
Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus,
per passionem eius et crucem
ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.
It is well-known by those of us who pray the Angelus.
You can read more of the history and my reflection on this collect here
Remember: The Gloria (“Glory to God in the highest..”) is not used.
The O Antiphons of Advent
The NZ Lectionary booklet has O Sapientia in italics on 17 December. I wonder how many people reading that know what it refers to? There is no further mention of any of the other great O Antiphons. There is a lot on this site on these wonderful antiphons – the search box on the top right, as always, is the friend of those who want to explore.
December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O With Us is God)
The first letters taken backwards form a Latin acrostic “ero cras” – Latin for “Tomorrow, I will come”.
There was an alternative English medieval practice of moving all of the antiphons forward by one day (commencing on 16 December) and adding an eighth antiphon, O Virgo virginum (O Virgin of virgins), on 23 December, (the acrostic became Vero cras, “truly, tomorrow”). This was followed in the CofE, but has been abandoned in its Common Worship. NZ Anglicanism followed this – the last year being 1990. Then it had several years of no mention of these Antiphons. In 1999 its lectionary booklet began following the more common practice.
Other Resources
Original, Southern Hemisphere Advent collects
An outline example and resources for an Advent Eucharist
Advent in the Southern Hemisphere
Off this site:
Textweek
Resourcing Preaching Down Under
Girardian Reflection
In the comments below, please continue adding quality Advent resources and ideas.
Image: Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 1859-1937. Annunciation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54838
Hi Bosco,
In regard to your recommended collect what would you say to those who feel that Anglicans in NZ should use those collects as laid out in A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa?
We have just such a discussion going on in the parish at the moment. A friendly and respectful discussion, I might add.
Thanks, Peter.
Wouldn’t it be great to have this friendly and respectful discussion as a church!
An initial question about the plural “use those collects” – there are some who pray a string of collects, one after the other, and our Prayer Book often puts three different collects, in its resources, in a row. I advocate strongly for using a single collect.
So, now to “as laid out in A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa”.
Let’s use Advent 2 as a recent example.
Three different collect options are provided in the physical book pages 551-552; if you start at the Three Year Series, page 692 points to Pentecost 9 (pages 616-617) where another three are provided OR St John the Baptist (pages 652-653) where another two possibilities are provided. If you turn to the online Prayer Book (pages 552-554), you are provided with yet more different options. Then, the Prayer Book itself says (page 691), “other collects appropriate to the theme may be selected from any source”.
The Lectionary Booklet ignores the dozen or so provided, and prints yet another completely different one not found in ANZPB/HKMA. Which of these formally provided collect in the Anglican Church of Or is understood as the one “Anglicans in NZ should use those collects as laid out in A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa”?
We are a VERY small church (will there be 30,000 in our churches this Sunday? Will there be 20,000? I/we have no idea – but that is another story). Why can large churches (TEC, CofE) manage to have one collect that everyone is praying this coming Sunday and we can not/do not? If a reader thinks: “there’s a great doctoral thesis”, I expect credit 🙂
Blessings.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question in such detail.
We are all grateful for the light you shed on discussions such as this.
Blessings for Advent, Christmas and a richly deserved holiday.
Peter
Thanks for the encouragement and support, Peter. Blessings.